i appreciate how thorough they appeared to be in their decision making process. so many of these lists have zero reasons behind why they chose what they chose, and the lists are all over the board.
I just made the switch to Hi-Tek naturals (grain free)! Not sure if I'll stay on it because I'm not sure my dog's love it but it is the BEST bang for the buck.
I feed Fromm glad to see it also on the list I use to always feed Orijin to my other dogs however this dog, Dax could not tolerate it and always had loose to pudding stools.
Earthborn Holistic all the way. All my girls were on the primitive natural formula but we recently figured out exactly why Nala has had on and off bad reactions to food over the years (minor allergy to chicken) so we've switched them to a different formula where the primary meat is bison and everyone is still having healthy poops and loves the food. Of course, I work at petco and not one of the food brands we have in store made the list. I know it costs our store money but I am regularly telling customers about reviews like this.
Just started my boy on Fromm a few days ago and he LOVES it. He was on TOTW high prairie puppy from the breeder and doing great on it, but myself and my vet wanted to get something more tailored for large breed puppies. After researching on here I picked up Fromm at my local natural dog food store.
Are any of the brands available at petsmart or petco? Also, my pup just finished his first bag of Blue Buffalo puppy formula. Can someone give me specifics as to why exactly this is a bad brand other than their previous law suit for false advertisement? I mean it's not like they had a bad ingredient in there is it?
Avoderm is. I've seen Pinnacle at Petco in the past, but haven't fed it since my Rattle developed pancreatitis while on it about five years ago. If you see one you want to try, but can't find it locally (independent stores might carry some of them), you can always purchase them online. I use Chewy.com, and have my dogs' and cats' kibble, as well as canned cat food, delivered to my doorstep each month.
I used to buy Taste of the Wild for Max and he liked it. Then I tried some other high $$ to remedy some stool and skin problems, I also added pumpkin and salmon oil. Three month ago I switched to Iams.....he now has no more dandruff, no itching, a super shiny coat, and most importantly every bowl movement is solid. He loves Iams as well (just like everything else we give him).
I don't want to open up a can of worms, I am just stating my experience. I do remember a time (30-40 years ago) when my dogs did well on Dog Chow and they all got old.
I'm no expert and every dog can definitely be different. Some dogs can't handle rich ingredients. As for the dog chow comments, as I said growing up I had mutts that grew old on gravy train. With that said, we have evolved. I'm sure cavemen used to feed there young grubs, grass, and any critter that crawled into there cave. Doesn't mean we should do it today....
...............I'm sure cavemen used to feed there young grubs, grass, and any critter that crawled into there cave. Doesn't mean we should do it today....
So with this article I became fascinated with all the research that I was able to find about their testing and results. Glad to say that I went and bought a bag of Orijin from just a 2 minute drive from where I live. We have several local dealers of Orijin and where I bought it is a local shop for bathing your dog. It's a cool place. One of the employees there was at Vegas just last week educating on dog foods and she said she spoke of Orijin in her presentations. She commented that Orijin will not sell their name to big name stores. That put a smile on my face and made it so much easier to buy such an expensive bag of dog food being that it was coming from a local mom and pop shop. My dog loves the food. Sadly, I didn't realize it had a zip lock mechanism and I cut the bag. O well. Next time.
Good deal. This site and its members will definitely encourage you to research. I know it did me anyway. I wanted to try orijin but just didn't want to risk the runny stools due to the high protein content. Remember to mix your old and new food for a little while to get your dogs system used to it. Let us know how it goes. I to like supporting the smaller retailers if possible.
Manny, I feed my pup Blue Buffalos large breed puppy variety since he was five weeks old and he has flourished on it. Every dog is different and not everyone, myself included, can justify $85 for a bag of dog food. Go with what works for your pup and your wallet. Every so often I will make the dogs a home cooked variety consisting of rice, chicken, and sweet potato to mix in with their kibble and they love it
Via dbrown: "Remember to mix your old and new food for a little while to get your dogs system used to it. Let us know how it goes."
Yes and yes. Orijen is a very rich food. I actually stuck with the 4 star large breed puppy food my youngest's breeder recommended until he was 14 months. We then transitioned slowly over to Orijen with no problems at all. I switch mcCoy back and forth from Orijen to Acana just for a little variety. He does extremely well on the two.
I live in Central America and none of those on the list are available here.
The "best" I could find here are TOTW and Nature's Variety. Price for either is almost double what you'd pay in the U.S. We went with NV and she does well on it, tho every 3rd day is a raw day.
We've always fed Wellness Core.......which has chicken as it's first ingredient - so I'm guessing that's why it was eliminated from their findings.
Fantastic coats, great health always.....
I didn't see any negative references to chicken in the article. In fact, it lists chicken as a desirable ingredient. However, sodium selenite, which is included in Wellness Core, is listed as an undesirable ingredient in this review. Wellness Core also had a couple of recalls in 2012. [Edited to add: I see sodium selenite in at least one dry food on their list of top foods. So, perhaps it is the recalls that dropped Wellness Core down.]
In the end, the foods they listed are ones they consider to be the best of the best. There are other high quality foods that are sitting just below where they drew the line. I agree that Wellness Core is a high quality food, and Pumpkin did great on Wellness Core Puppy. (We switched to Fromm when she was older.)
We were also considering Fromm, but our Blue female's skin and coat really do well on Wellness Core - totally cleared it up when we went to this food a few years ago.
Glad I looked into this thread, it has confirmed my suspicions. I've noticed some inconsistencies with Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy and after reading the above article, it makes sense now. I've noticed with Wade that I go through a big bag in the course of a month and sometimes he will have decent stools. sometimes quite soft (nothing quite concerning) This will last for a majority of the month and then I usually get the next bag and it seems like all hell has broken loose and he will get very runny to explosive diarrhea. It will last for several days to which I revert to bland chicken,rice, and pumpkin. when all is well again, he eats his BB kibble and seems to do alright for a week or so then it happens again. I have kept track of it when it happens and it will be fine for a month or two and then it seems to happen when I get a new bag of the Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy. I switched to Origin (before I even saw this article. it was recommended by a vet tech) recently and have noticed a great difference. Less frequent poops and they aren't incredibly soft. My neighbor feeds her pup the same Blue Buffalo kibble and never has a problem so I guess some dogs can handle it better? However after reading Blue Buffalo's false advertising and misleading ingredients, seeing similar reviews/problems and noticeable bowl change from using a different food... i've come to the conclusion that BB is not as premium as they advertise and at close to $60 bucks a bag, whats an extra $15 for some quality like Origin to keep from having to clean a messy kennel several times a month.
My two dachshunds are on Acana and they love it. When we first got them they were on Nutro (breeder recommendation just never made them switch) however they had a thinning hair issue on their chests and after some research of my own I swapped them to Acana and they have shiny and full coats like never before! I also order on chewy.com and it's much more reasonable than other places and it's so nice to have it delivered right to the door!
I feel like a cheapskate<G> but I've been feeding Victor Beef and rice for years, they also get table scraps, (spaghetti is a huge favorite around here, all of them love pasta with red sauce!) raw meat, and a half scoop of Nupro. Everyone is in good condition with lush, heavy coats on the hairy dogs, and super shiny coats on teh Dobes
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